Here's the deal with my gauges. In the past I've had the common issue of gauge failure with the associated no bus/airbags message. This time all was good Sunday night, Monday no gauges. The backlights work and the normal startup trouble lights work then go out. My obd port also stopped working at this time that I found by trying to scan. It appears that in the power distribution box underhood, I keep blowing an unlabeled 15 amp fuse that with some searching appears to be a instrument/datalink fuse. Now here is where it gets interesting. My factory fog lights also have stopped. If I replace the fuse, the instruments still don't work and when I turn on my fogs, the lights flash and the fuse blows. My question is how can all this be related? Every issue happened overnight. This site is an absolute wealth of knowledge and I'm hoping someone has had a similar issue and can point me in some direction. Thanks in advance.

 

I'll begin by saying I'm not even sure this is even possible, but it doesn't hurt to try. I know that the "no_bus" and airbag light coming on has to do with corrosion on the instrument panel connection. My thought is that maybe the corrosion is causing extra load electrically, and causing the fuse to blow. Unplug the instrument panel, and clean the connections up, and apply dialectric grease.

 

It definately is a weird series of events and I as well wonder how or even if they are related. In regards to the data link connector, I have continuity to ground on both pins 4 and 5. I have the correct 2.5 volts at pins 3 and 11. I'm going to remove the cluster,replace the fuse and see if the data link works. If upon replacing the cluster, the fuse blows, I may have found it. Thanks for the input.